Support systems for abuse victims are almost non-existent. A name and shame list gives survivors the satisfaction of having taken action against perpetrators.

All too often, to make an allegation of sexual abuse is to run a fool’s errand. Even if one is ultimately believed, the process of establishing one’s credibility can be torturous, the costs – both intangible and material – can be extraordinarily high, and the returns far too low for an abused person to choose to formally invoke the legal system.

This sense of injustice is perhaps what launched the online campaign to name and shame academics at Indian universities accused of sexually harassing or assaulting students. The campaign has sparked a furious debate, with some feminists calling for it to be withdrawn because “anybody can be named anonymously, with lack of answerability”.

Support mechanisms for victims of abuse are all but non-existent. There is, these days, rarely a dearth of people to post a quick message of encouragement online signalling the wonders of their own politics, if not anything else. But despite the deluge of social media supporters, finding people who make, and honour, concrete commitments to support a victim through the process of formally addressing abuse is usually difficult. The difficulty tends to increase exponentially if the abuser in question is a well-placed man.

For women who have been abused, particularly by men not on the lower rungs of the socio-economic ladder, this has often meant that they report nothing formally but rely on informal networks to share what ultimately become “open secrets” about men they have found abusive. The trouble with open secrets, of course, is that there are always people outside the informed group who would benefit from knowledge of the secret but who don’t know of it. Sometimes, they learn of it the hard way.

In such circumstances, creating an open, crowdsourced list of alleged abusers can seem to make sense. If it is accurate, such a list can potentially act as a warning to those who have not been abused by the men named. It can provide actual victims the satisfaction of having done something to retaliate against their abusers and help them regain some of the control the abusers likely stripped them of. And if the list does not name the accusers, it accords the victims these benefits without endangering their safety or jeopardising their career paths.

Question of credibility

The problem with such a list is that, at first glance, there is no way at all to determine its accuracy. It is ultimately the public collation of unverified gossip and, where the list contains only the names and professional affiliations of alleged abusers, it taints everyone named with the same brush. A casual reader of the list cannot know whether the people named have been legally defamed.

For that matter, it is unclear if a person compiling such a list based on purported victim testimonies can be certain of the veracity of the testimonies. Presumably, an individual would not have the resources to investigate each allegation for accuracy, so she would have to simply take the accusers at their word. In effect, the list would lack substantiation and, consequently, its credibility would be assailable.

Truth is a defence against claims of civil defamation and, coupled with a demonstration of public interest being served by the disclosure of information, it is a defence against complaints of criminal defamation. Other exceptions to defamation too could conceivably come into play. For example, the Ninth Exception in Section 499 of the Indian Penal Code states:

“It is not defamation to make an imputation on the character of another provided that the imputation be made in good faith for the protection of the interests of the person making it, or of any other person, or for the public good.”

That said, without the possibility of establishing the list’s accuracy, it remains deeply problematic. On one hand, there is no chance of actual abusers being brought to account on the basis of the list alone. On the other, there is no chance of people who may be wrongly named being able to definitively clear their names. In both cases, the problem is that the identities of accusers and the specific conduct they have complained of are not clear.

It would appear that the solution to all these concerns is to create mechanisms through which allegations of abuse can be fairly and impartially investigated. But our reality is that social structures are deeply inequitable, the legal system is difficult to navigate, and speaking out against well-placed men can be more formidable a challenge than many victims are able to face. Understandably then, vague assurances of support may not be enough to convince the victims to identify themselves. What is required are concrete commitments to see the victims through the process of formally addressing complaints of abuse. Thus far, such commitments do not appear to have been made.

Adopting three simple habits can help maximise the benefits of existing sanitation infrastructure.

India’s sanitation problem is well documented – the country was recently declared as having the highest number of people living without basic sanitation facilities. Sanitation encompasses all conditions relating to public health - especially sewage disposal and access to clean drinking water. Due to associated losses in productivity caused by sickness, increased healthcare costs and increased mortality, India recorded a loss of 5.2% of its GDP to poor sanitation in 2015. As tremendous as the economic losses are, the on-ground, human consequences of poor sanitation are grim - about one in 10 deaths, according to the World Bank.

Poor sanitation contributes to about 10% of the world’s disease burden and is linked to even those diseases that may not present any correlation at first. For example, while lack of nutrition is a direct cause of anaemia, poor sanitation can contribute to the problem by causing intestinal diseases which prevent people from absorbing nutrition from their food. In fact, a study found a correlation between improved sanitation and reduced prevalence of anaemia in 14 Indian states. Diarrhoeal diseases, the most well-known consequence of poor sanitation, are the third largest cause of child mortality in India. They are also linked to undernutrition and stunting in children - 38% of Indian children exhibit stunted growth. Improved sanitation can also help reduce prevalence of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). Though not a cause of high mortality rate, NTDs impair physical and cognitive development, contribute to mother and child illness and death and affect overall productivity. NTDs caused by parasitic worms - such as hookworms, whipworms etc. - infect millions every year and spread through open defecation. Improving toilet access and access to clean drinking water can significantly boost disease control programmes for diarrhoea, NTDs and other correlated conditions.

Unfortunately, with about 732 million people who have no access to toilets, India currently accounts for more than half of the world population that defecates in the open. India also accounts for the largest rural population living without access to clean water. Only 16% of India’s rural population is currently served by piped water.

However, there is cause for optimism. In the three years of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the country’s sanitation coverage has risen from 39% to 65% and eight states and Union Territories have been declared open defecation free. But lasting change cannot be ensured by the proliferation of sanitation infrastructure alone. Ensuring the usage of toilets is as important as building them, more so due to the cultural preference for open defecation in rural India.

According to the World Bank, hygiene promotion is essential to realise the potential of infrastructure investments in sanitation. Behavioural intervention is most successful when it targets few behaviours with the most potential for impact. An area of public health where behavioural training has made an impact is WASH - water, sanitation and hygiene - a key issue of UN Sustainable Development Goal 6. Compliance to WASH practices has the potential to reduce illness and death, poverty and improve overall socio-economic development. The UN has even marked observance days for each - World Water Day for water (22 March), World Toilet Day for sanitation (19 November) and Global Handwashing Day for hygiene (15 October).

At its simplest, the benefits of WASH can be availed through three simple habits that safeguard against disease - washing hands before eating, drinking clean water and using a clean toilet. Handwashing and use of toilets are some of the most important behavioural interventions that keep diarrhoeal diseases from spreading, while clean drinking water is essential to prevent water-borne diseases and adverse health effects of toxic contaminants. In India, Hindustan Unilever Limited launched the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, a WASH behaviour change programme, to complement the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Through its on-ground behaviour change model, SASB seeks to promote the three basic WASH habits to create long-lasting personal hygiene compliance among the populations it serves.

This touching film made as a part of SASB’s awareness campaign shows how lack of knowledge of basic hygiene practices means children miss out on developmental milestones due to preventable diseases.

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SASB created the Swachhata curriculum, a textbook to encourage adoption of personal hygiene among school going children. It makes use of conceptual learning to teach primary school students about cleanliness, germs and clean habits in an engaging manner. Swachh Basti is an extensive urban outreach programme for sensitising urban slum residents about WASH habits through demos, skits and etc. in partnership with key local stakeholders such as doctors, anganwadi workers and support groups. In Ghatkopar, Mumbai, HUL built the first-of-its-kind Suvidha Centre - an urban water, hygiene and sanitation community centre. It provides toilets, handwashing and shower facilities, safe drinking water and state-of-the-art laundry operations at an affordable cost to about 1,500 residents of the area.

HUL’s factory workers also act as Swachhata Doots, or messengers of change who teach the three habits of WASH in their own villages. This mobile-led rural behaviour change communication model also provides a volunteering opportunity to those who are busy but wish to make a difference. A toolkit especially designed for this purpose helps volunteers approach, explain and teach people in their immediate vicinity - their drivers, cooks, domestic helps etc. - about the three simple habits for better hygiene. This helps cast the net of awareness wider as regular interaction is conducive to habit formation. To learn more about their volunteering programme, click here. To learn more about the Swachh Aadat Swachh Bharat initiative, click here.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of Hindustan Unilever and not by the Scroll editorial team.